Tag Archive: Happiness

Words of Wisdom about Love from a Four Year Old

One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from four year old, Billy, who is definitely wise beyond his years.

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.

Don’t you love it?

“Safe in their mouth.”

Don’t you want your name to be safe in someone’s mouth?

Think about it, when your name is safe….

  • No secrets are betrayed.
  • No rumors are spread.
  • No lies are told.
  • No cruelty is spoken.
  • No anger is screamed.
  • No ___________

You’re safe.

I want everyone I love to know their name is safe with me.

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What I Learned from Arminda

I met Arminda on my trip to Bolivia with the World Vision Blogger Team. Arminda has a mother, father, and four older brothers. She didn’t have the typical arrival to her family. You see Arminda was abandoned. Neighbors in this community had taked her from door to door trying to find someone to care for her.

This family didn’t ask themselves all of the questions they might have asked as they tried to talk themselves out of doing something “crazy” like taking in another child when they already had so little for themselves. They responded to her need. They gave her a home.

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Teachable Moments

My mother has given me some great advice over the years. But the one piece that I remember the most—and the piece that I put to use with the most frequency—is something that she probably doesn’t even remember saying at all. It was one of those times when she was trying to console an upset teenager (me!) and attempting to use that segment of time as a teachable moment.

“Sometimes, Staci, you just need to get in the car and go through a drive-thru for a Coke.”

I’m not sure how much stock I put in that nugget of information at the tender age of seventeen, but I do know how wise I’ve come to view those words as I raised my own children and maneuvered through a myriad of life’s complex twists and turns.

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Everything is Meaningless?

I needed a word from the Lord about my writing, my relationships, my life. When I cracked the Bible, the book fell open to Ecclesiastes 1:1 and I started reading.

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Okaaay… Not the answer I was expecting so I read on.

“What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever…All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

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